Building block construction



J1me 1955 P. .1. ROUZAUD BUILDING BLOCK CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 31, 1947 INVE r012. I fiat $0219.00

VII/[Illa 1 BUILDING BLOCK CONSTRUCTION Pierre Jean Rouzaud, Paris, France Application January 31, 1947, Serial No. 725,673 In France December 8, 1943 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires December 8, 1963 2 Claims. (Cl. 72-41) The present invention relates to building block construction.

It is known that the problem of the construction of buildings is aggravated by the difliculty of finding specialized labor, the question of the professional quality and the number of qualified workmen, which are decreasing are such that they are convenient to transport and to handle, their weight being for this purpose, with advantage, approximately kilograms and the rapid assembly of which on the building site permits the accurate erection of walls and partitions of the kind which were heretofore realized in an inexact manner by putting into shape, on the building site, the materials necessary for all the various departments of the building art. These materials were used by specialized gangs of professional workmen which had to work on them in order to achieve the dimensions required by the plans and which had to connect together all the various elements constructed with the various materials of all the different departments.

The blocks in accordance with the invention are hollow; they are obtained by molding, with or without pressure, and with or without vibration, in a suitable manner, and they may be reinforced. The material constituting said blocks is preferably a mixture of sand, of small gravel and of cement, when the blocks are to carry loads.

These blocks are laid in the dry state and without the interposition between their beds and joints of any mortar, the presence of the latter, which is always in the form of a layer of a certain thickness, giving rise to imprecision in the erection of the structure. The blocks are assembled by means of keys which have to fulfil the following conditions:

(1) They must be, like the blocks, sufficiently accurate nited States Patent 0 so that the wall and partition faces are sufficiently fiat and vertical and do not require any plastering for adjusting and correcting the masonry work;

(2) They must be sufiiciently resistant to enable the walls to suitably transmit the loads and overloads they receive. zontally or vertically to the supports or chain bonds constructed to resist the forces resulting from these loads and overloads.

The outer forms of the blocks are strictly those that These loads are thus transmitted either hori are necessary to obtain, by simple assembly, in the dry state, without any molding or plastering on the building site, all shapes of building walls and partitions with all their accidents, such as bay contours, lintels, supports, building frontage projections, bonds, Wall and partition angles, etc. This result may be secured by means of a chosen to permit the design of all constructions.

relatively small number of molds, determined in advance, according to the limitations which are imposed on the dimensions of the various parts of the construction. In order to solve'the problem of construction generally, it is possible to manufacture a finite number of dilferent blocks which are all multiples of a module, which is that y adopting a sufficiently small module to avoid restrictions which are a hindrance from a practical standpoint, 2.5 cms. for example, it is possible, nevertheless, to settle on a number of molds which is satisfactory insofar as the economy of the method is concerned.

The exposed faces of the blocks may be provided at the factory, before being laid on the building yard, with the usual facing materials, such as slab coverings, stoneware, parquet fioorings, magnesite flooring, etc. Moreover these blocks may, on demand be bored at the factory to allow passage for the sheaths surrounding piping of all kinds, plumbing, heating, electricity, etc. The accuracy of the holes coupled with the accuracy of the subsequent mounting of the blocks on the building site, renders possible the preparation at the factory of all the pipes, just as all the blocks have been prepared, so that all that remains to be done is to execute on the spot. a'single job of assembly. It is also possible, if desired, to embed, in the blocks intended for special walls, masses of inert or metallic materials permitting screwing, nailing or otherwise alfixing structures to the wall.

The blocks are advantageously manufactured according to mass production principles. This mode of manufacture substitutes industrial molding of basic materials (binder and aggregate or suitable material) for the molding of materials on the building site with the help of binders and aggregates.

The method according to the invention may be associated without ditliculty with all the old modes of construction, with or without supporting iron or reinforced concrete frameworks, with or without facings made of ordinary materials (stones, bricks, etc.). Moreover, it allows all outer or inner decorations to be made as well as the atfixing of all stone or other facings, the execution of all stucco, ordinary cement, stone-like cement coverings, etc. as well as all plastering and jointing operations.

This method may be carried out in a large number of ways. A certain number of them are illustrated,.by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a basic building block in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a bet for blocks of this type.

Figs. 4 and 5 show in plan and side view, from the face side, a variant of the basic block intended for outer walls. a

Fig. 6 is'a perspective view of a section of wall built with blocks and keys of the kind shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal vertical section of a wall construction in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 8 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 8-8 in Fig. 7.

The basic building blocks are made of cement concrete, with or Without reinforcement. These blocks are manufactured in the factory in strictly non-deformable molds, of precise dimensions and the setting is effected in a sufficiently constant atmosphere to ensure that the mechanical qualities and the shrinkage of the concrete shall be constant.

The blocks are in the form of a parallelepiped, the dimensions of which are multiples of the module chosen, 2.5 cms. for example; they are hollow and are solely formed of vertical walls, viz: parallel side walls 1, opposed end connecting key memapproximately .as they are assembled. 1 recesses in the partitions 3 up and keys 6 are placed jwalls 2 and a transverse wall 3 parallel to the end walls and midway between them (Figs. 1 and 2). The upper and lower horizontal faces of the blocks are substantially ,planar and freefrom'any projections that might be chipped or broken off in shipping and handling of the blocks.

The walls and the partitions of the building (the partittions only diife'ring from the walls by their smaller thickjness) are constituted by the juxtaposition, without binder, jboth in the horizontal and the vertical direction of the above-described blocks. In the vertical direction, the superposition is efiected by registering of parts.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the connection between the various blocks is efiected by a key. To

.this end, the end walls 2 each have in their upper face a recess 4 whilst the mid wall 3 has a similar recess 5 in iits lower face. The-recesses 4 and 5 have side surfaces .which are parallel with the side walls of the block. The

.course register with the transverse partitions 3 of the adjacent course and the recesses 4 in said end Walls coincide with the recesses 5 in the partitions.

beseen that the end walls 2 of each block in'a c'oiirse [twill further register with the transverse partitions 3 of two end-to-end adjacent blocks in the next course. A key 6 (Fig. 3) of right angle parallelepipedal shape is introduced into the recess 5 of a block as well as in the adjacent recess 4 of two neighboring blocks of the lower course and it thus ensures connection of the blocks and correct alignment both in the horizontal and in the vertical direction. This key may be made of cement, steel, wood, or any other 1 suitable material. .to fit precisely in the registering recesses 4 and 5 and thereby lock theblocks against movement out of align- The keys 6 are accurately made so as ment either transversely or angularly. As there are only .two recesses with interengaging keys in any one horizontal face of a block, there is no diificulty in aligning the blocks If the blocks are laid with the in these recesses, the blocks of the next succeeding course are easily and accurately positioned by engagement of the recesses 4 in their end walls 2 with the keys.

The construction as a whole is ensured by means of two chain bonds, one horizontal and the other vertical.

The horizontal and vertical chain bonds may be obtained bymeans of reinforced concrete. For the vertical chain bonds, it is simply necessary to pour concrete with or without reinforcing rods in the vertically aligned cavities of superposed elements. In order to obtain horizontal chain bonds, the transverse end and central walls of the elements of a course are knocked out for part of their height, starting from the top. Said course is provided, at the bottom of the cut out portion thus obtained, with a horizontal wall and the blocks of the course are filled with concrete with or Without reinforcing rods in a manner known per se. These chain bonds serve as beams and posts if the thickness of the walls and their reinforcement are insufficient to withstand the forces imposed on the "construction.

As stated above, the vertical elements of the construcummus and partitions, are produced by the superposij human efforts that are too exacting. Thus, for example,

with a module of 2.5 cm. the height may be cm, the

jlength cm., the thickness, which is greater for walls than for 'the'partitions, may vary between and 5cm. "If

the elements are, as stated above, provided at the factory with glazed earthenware and ceramic slabs, it is preferable to choose for the height and the length of the blocksdimensions corresponding to those of slabs found in the trade or to multiples thereof. .The thickness of the walls of the block depends on theloads to be transmitted and on the dimensions of the reinforcements they contain.

Outside walls must be water-tight in case of bad weather. very simple manner shown in Figs. 4 and 5. On the outer face 1 of the blocks, provision is made on the horizontal and vertical edgesof rabbets 8, having a depth varying between 5 and 15 mrns. for example, andthe grooves thus formed when the blocks are assembled are completely filled with a mortar applied in the cold state which molds itself perfectly into the bottom of the grooves as indicated at 9 in Fig. 8.

It is to be understood that the various elements described above have only been given by way of indication and that many alterations could be made thereto without falling outside the ambit of the invention.

The advantages oifered by the method of construction according to the invention, which are a consequence of the industrializing, in the above manner, of the building art, are numerous and may be summarized as follows:

l. Possibility of constructing buildings with extremely variable outer and inner dimensions; 7

2. Almost complete elimination of specialized labor;

3. Considerable reduction in the time taken for building since:

('a) 'The labor for working the materials and adjusting them in position on the building site is replaced by factory labor which may be economized and to a great extent replaced by machines, and the building site only requires very limited labor for assembly purposes.

(b) The time taken for adjusting on the yard the carpentry and hardware work is reduced, much of said work i v Q I i being carried out without inconvenience at the factory and the carpentry Work, doors and windows, secured at the factory to the frames, being simply mounted in position; a

(c) The time lost by the succession at the building site of all'the various specialists of the building trade is done away with, since a single gang of workmen is sufiicient to ensure the completion of the construction;

(it) There is no time lost in' making various holes, 7

seals and connections; 7

(e) Masonry plasterings being done away with, there is no time lost in drying them; 7

4. Elimination of all fear of deterioration of the carpentry work during the time when the masonry plastering is being applied;

5. Reduction i'n'the cost price of the building due to the almost complete elimination of the building site rundirect edge-abutting relationship and free frombonding material between the abutting edges, said blocks being assembled merely by laying the blocks upon one'ano'ther in direct contact withone another, said blocks being "sub- 7 g stantially parallelepipedal in form and comprising spaced parallel side walls and a plurality of spaced vertical transverse walls, the horizontal upper and lower faces of said blocks being planar and free of projections, said blocks g in adjacent courses being staggered and being arranged 1 "with spaced transverse walls of each block in one course registering vertically respectively with a transverse wall of each of two end-to-end adjacent blocks in the next ver I tically'adjacent coursefthecontiguous edge portions of a said registering-transverse walls being provided with reg- This water-tightness may be obtained in the istering recesses extending longitudinally throughout the thickness of said transverse walls and having a width at least as great as their depth, said recesses being equidistant from one side wall and having side surfaces parallel to the side walls of the blocks, and individual keys of right angle parallelepipedal form precisely fitting into said registering recesses and thereby accurately positioning said blocks so that the side walls of said blocks are accurately aligned both horizontally and vertically and said blocks are thereby locked against movement out of alignment either transversely or angular-1y, there being not more than two recesses and interengaging keys in any one face of a block.

2. A building construction comprising a plurality of hollow blocks of the same dimensions and shape disposed in predetermined arrangement in horizontal courses in direct edge-abutting relationship and free of bonding material between abutting edges, said blocks being assembled merely by laying the blocks upon one another in direct contact with one another, said blocks being substantially parallelepipedal in form and comprising spaced parallel side walls, opposed transverse end walls and a transverse partition wall midway between said end walls, the upper and lower horizontal faces of said blocks being planar and free of projections, said blocks in adjacent courses being staggered and being arranged with abutting end walls of adjacent blocks in one course registering vertically respectively with the transverse partition walls of end-to-end adjacent blocks in the next vertically adjacent course, the contiguous edge portions of said registering transverse walls being provided with registering recesses extending longitudinally throughout the thickness are thereby locked against movement out of alignment either transversely or angularly, there being not more than two recesses and interengaging keys in any one horizontal face of a block.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 132,291 Johnson et al. Oct. 15, 1872 575,209 Bruckner Jan. 12, 1897 946,330 Brumbaugh Jan. 11, 1910 1,438,610 Poth Dec. 12, 1922 1,472,680 Roflino Oct. 30, 1923 1,499,483 Simms July 1, 1924 1,521,430 Campbell Dec. 30, 1924 1,970,414 Brown Aug. 14, 1934 2,176,986 Briscoe Oct. 24, 1939 2,228,363 Pinney Jan. 14, 1941 2,241,169 Yokes May 6, I941 FOREIGN PATENTS I 569,859 France Apr. 18, 1924 564,979 Great Britain Oct. 20, 1944 

